USC’s Wednesday recruiting push

Wednesday brought some notable news from and surrounding USC, as the Trojans officially announced the addition of two new coaches, and also announced their presence on the recruiting trail, with a flurry of offers.

Williams, Snyder on board

USC officially announced two new coaching additions on Wednesday, as cornerbacks coach Donte Williams and special teams coordinator Sean Snyder joined the staff. Those two, together with the expected hire of Vic So’oto, complete USC’s coaching staff, which will feature six new additions for the 2020 season.

Snyder logged some phenomenal special teams seasons while at Kansas State and Williams is known as one of the top recruiters in the nation. He was one of the big reasons so many Southern California recruits have found their way to Oregon recently and should provide an immediate recruiting boost to the Trojans.

Beavers backs away from Oregon

While USC was able to take Williams away from Oregon, that might just be the first piece to turn tail and wind up at USC. On Wednesday, defensive back Anthony Beavers (Harbor City, Calif./Narbonne) tweeted that he had reopened his commitment, dropping out of Oregon’s 2021 recruiting class. There is plenty of momentum for USC in this battle, especially with Williams on board.

Beavers (lead photo) is a 6-foot, 195-pound safety, though he could certainly grow into a linebacker at the next level. The four-star prospect is No. 139 overall and the No. 15 player in California.

Williams hits the ground running

Williams is arguably the best overall recruiter in the Pac-12. He’s been successful as a grad assistant at Washington and as a fulltime coach at San Jose State, Nebraska, Arizona and Oregon. Williams has spent so much time recruiting against USC, it will be fascinating to watch how he operates now that he has the full weight of USC behind him, rather than opposing him.

If Wednesday is any indication, he’s going to be doing some big game hunting.

Williams extended offers to a quartet of talented prospects, including the top two cornerbacks in the country. USC jumped into the mix for:

It’s going to be truly difficult to bring any of these players across the country to USC and away from strong local pull, but it shows that Williams is willing to at least test the waters with the top prospects, no matter where they are located.

But while Williams will go after national prospects, it’ll likely be far more interesting to USC fans to watch how he does with prospects closer to home. Los Angeles–and to a larger extent, Southern California–prospects have been fleeing the state in recent recruiting classes. It likely won’t take Williams long to get going with local recruits, as USC can take a much bigger recruiting class in 2021 than they could in 2020, and Williams will be one of the coaches to help set the tone there.

Other offers extended

USC didn’t stop with just cornerbacks on Wednesday. A pile of additional offers were extended.

In state, offensive lineman Ryan Lange (Pittsburg, Calif./Pittsburg) grabbed an offer and the 6-foot-6, 330-pound tackle adds it to other offers from Arizona State, Nebraska and Washington State.

USC also offered 2022 quarterback Justyn Martin (Inglewood, Calif./Inglewood) who had a really big day, adding offers from Arizona State, Colorado, Florida Atlantic and San Jose State as well.

USC has to find at least one running back in this 2021 class, so the Trojans threw their hat in the ring for one of the best, extending an offer to TreVeyon Henderson (Hopewell, Va./Hopewell). Henderson is the nation’s No. 101 prospect and with the impending addition of So’oto, who has spent the last several years coaching the Virginia defensive line, it makes sense that Grimes and Henderson–the top two prospects in the state of Virginia–would add USC offers.

The Trojans offered tight end Michael Trigg (Lake Wales, Fla./Seffner Christian Academy). Trigg is a 6-foot-4, 208-pound football and basketball standout with offers from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon and just about every other football recruiting power.

USC also offered 2022 wide receiver Kevin Coleman (St. Louis, Mo./St. Mary’s), a potential five-star receiver in his class. USC has been able to at least get the attention of St. Louis prospects on the strength of Adoree’ Jackson–who grew up in Bellville, Ill., just outside of St. Louis. We’ll see if cornerback coach Donte Williams and wide receiver coach Keary Colbert, whom Coleman thanked for the USC offer, can do enough to keep Coleman’s interest.

Top six for talented tailback

As mentioned, USC will be in the market for at least one tailback in the 2021 class and the Trojans have cast a wide net.

While it didn’t happen on Wednesday, the Trojans got a little good news on Thursday afternoon, as USC was included in the top six of four-star tailback Evan Pryor (Cornelius, NC./William Amos Hough). Pryor is 5-foot-10, 180 pounds and the nation’s No. 5 running back and No. 87 overall prospect. In addition to USC, his top six schools include Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Penn State.

USC did not sign a tailback in the 2020 recruiting class and is scheduled to lose both Vavae Malepeai and Stephen Carr from the roster following this season. Additionally, Markese Stepp will be a draft-eligible sophomore.

Author
Erik McKinney

Erik McKinney began writing for WeAreSC in 2004, during his junior year at USC, covering the Trojans football team and recruiting. He then moved on to ESPN.com in 2011, where he served as the West Region recruiting reporter and then the Pac-12 recruiting reporter. He took over as publisher of WeAreSC in January, 2019.